Consolidated Recommendations

Establishing Effective Frameworks

Recognizing that the protection and promotion of the Traditional Forest Related Knowledge (TFRK) of Indigenous Peoples (IP) is inextricably linked with their full cultural and intellectual heritage, secure rights to their lands, territories and the natural resources therein and with their spirituality and customary law,

Considering that indigenous peoples’ rights are the foundation of their future development, and that many indigenous peoples traditionally and currently depend on forests, and that indigenous peoples’ rights must be recognized in forest policies,

Asserting that sustainable forest management cannot be achieved without the protection of IP rights,

We provide the following recommendations:

National governments and states should, with full and effective participation of Indigenous Peoples:

1.       Undertake constitutional reforms that recognize the existence and identities of Indigenous Peoples in their countries, through plural legal regimes and by ensuring their prominence in national law.

2.      Ratify the International Labour Convention 169 on the Rights of Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries, where Indigenous Peoples so demand.

3.      Support the adoption of the UN Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

4.      Review national constitutions, laws and policies to harmonize them with applicable international laws and agreements concerning the rights of Indigenous Peoples.

5.      Repeal exclusionary forest and conservation laws, policies and associated norms, codes and legislation that criminalize the customary resource use practices and traditional livelihood activities.

6.      Reform national forest and conservation policies, laws, institutions, and land tenure regimes to recognize indigenous peoples’ unambiguous and secure rights to collectively own, manage, and control their territories, forests and other natural resources, taking into account their traditional lifestyles and customary systems of tenure, especially those relevant to TK.

7.      Repeal all assimilationist development laws and policies since they devalue and undermine Indigenous Knowledge, including TFRK.

8.      Adopt laws and programs that eliminate and penalize all forms of discrimination, intolerance and social exclusion, and ratify and implement the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination.

9.      Develop primary and secondary school curricula to reflect the perspectives of, and be relevant to, Indigenous systems of knowledge.

10.  Implement affirmative action regarding the provision of education to indigenous girls and boys, such as free education.

11.   Provide the required technical services and political and moral support necessary for the recognition, creation, and functioning of future Indigenous universities, where Indigenous Peoples so demand.

12.   Ensure that in schools and universities where forestry and related studies are taught current curricula for courses and degrees are expanded to include both TFRK and the rights of Indigenous Peoples.

13.   Initiate deliberate action to provide indigenous women with the necessary capacity to fully participate in all strategies of natural resource management, and to share their knowledge of traditional natural resource management practices.

14.   Allow freedom of association for indigenous peoples, in order to form networks and organisations, to advocate for their rights.

15.   Not interpret national sovereignty in any way that undermines the rights of peoples, inclusive of indigenous peoples, including their right to self-determination and permanent sovereignty over the natural resources in their territories. 

16.   Respect, promote and implement the economic, social and cultural rights of IP to ensure coherence with processes of territorial demarcation and respect for Indigenous customary law and forest management.

17.  Prohibit the imposition of protected areas and forest reserves on Indigenous Peoples’ territories and halt the involuntary displacement of IP. In the case of alienated lands of indigenous peoples, governments should take adequate measures to restore ownership and possession of the same to the indigenous peoples.

18.   Not establish concessions that affect Indigenous territories and rights.  Where this has occurred, reparations and indemnity for damages caused should be paid, and fair and equitable sharing of benefits provided.

19.   Initiate immediately, in a fully participatory manner, the restitution of indigenous peoples’ lands expropriated for settlement, conservation and development projects without their free, prior and informed consent. Where this is not possible they should be provided with compensation and preferably provided lands of equal quality and extent.

20.  Ensure equitable representation of indigenous peoples on relevant government commissions and in the parliament.

21.   Adopt timely national measures to promote and facilitate the implementation of Article 10(c) of the CBD.

22.  Undertake development of policies and laws, with the free prior informed consent of Indigenous peoples, that implement the Akwe:kon Guidelines for the conduct of cultural, environmental and social impact assessments regarding development proposed to take place on, or which are likely, to impact on, sacred sites and on lands and waters traditionally occupied or used by Indigenous and local communities

23.  Adopt and adhere to policies of full information disclosure of relevance to indigenous peoples and TFRK, and disseminate this information widely in appropriate languages and forms.

24.  Stop large-scale, illegal logging while recognizing without criminalizing the customary use and access to forests by local communities and indigenous peoples for their own needs.  At the same time, the state should address the root causes of poverty that exert undue pressure on forest communities.

25.  Recognize customary law and legal pluralism as vital means of protecting TFRK while adopting additional sui generis measures to prevent the expropriation of IP knowledge and resources without diminishing IP customary jurisdictions and laws and respecting the collective, holistic, inalienable and intergenerational nature of indigenous cultural heritage.

26.  Support customary rotational farming and hunting and fishing practices to ensure their sustainability through action research and education. Protection of these extensive systems of land use requires the statutory recognition of indigenous peoples’ territories.

27.  Provide an institutionalized and regular process for IPs to dialogue among themselves, with government representatives, and among government departments to review and harmonize national policies and laws and to discuss other matters of high priority and concern to IP.

28.  In negotiating an international regime on access to genetic resources and benefit sharing, recognize and protect the fundamental principle that Indigenous Peoples are rights-holders with inherent and inalienable rights over their traditional knowledge and biological resources, including genetic material, within their territories.  Obligations of states under human rights conventions must be fully recognized in the development of an international regime.  States must ensure that the rights of Indigenous Peoples to free, prior informed consent when their knowledge or genetic resources are sought for utilization, including the right to deny access and /or refuse to participate.

29.  Refrain from deploying or permitting military and para-military forces to protect forest reserves and other areas adjacent to indigenous peoples’ territories

30.  Immediately repeal laws that provide immunity from criminal prosecution to government officials with responsibilities for forest management.

Improving Implementation

Although many existing international agreements related to forests recommend positive policy changes and action, the national case studies and regional reviews carried out for this meeting show clearly that the majority of these agreements are being implemented tardily, inadequately, and with little real participation from IP. 

One glaring example of the dangers in excluding IP from implementation strategies is evident in the experience with databases and registries designed to document Indigenous knowledge as a means, inter alia, of establishing evidence of prior art.

Databases of traditional and associated biological knowledge could be a means to facilitate access by external entities, making traditional knowledge vulnerable to exploitation. Databases and registers are only one approach in the effective protection of traditional knowledge, innovations and practices and their establishment should be considered voluntary, not a requirement for protection, and where established, occur only with the free prior informed consent of indigenous and local communities.  Traditional knowledge that is already documented or in registers or databases should not be considered to be in the public domain, and Indigenous peoples retain all rights over the ownership and use of such knowledge. Indigenous peoples have a right to grant or refuse such access as well as to determine the level of such access.

Governments therefore should:

31.   Take adequate measures to help preserve and protect the TFRK of IP, with the free, prior and informed consent of the IP concerned.

32.  Liaise with indigenous peoples to establish a process for the documentation of TFRK with the free prior and informed consent of IP

33.  Recognise that the knowledge so documented continues to be the property of the indigenous peoples in question, and that it cannot be used in any manner without their free prior informed consent, through the establishment, in a fully participatory manner, of appropriate laws and policies.

34.  Ensure that indigenous peoples receive the benefits from any use of this knowledge, through the establishment, in a fully participatory manner, of appropriate laws and policies.

35.  All international processes dealing with forest issues (including the UNFF and CBD), as well as all international forest-related agencies (including members of the CPF) should apply an integrated and rights-based approach in all policy discussions, initiatives, projects or programmes that directly or indirectly deal with or relate to traditional knowledge.

36.  Ensure that agro-forestry technologies drawing upon TFRK, such as ‘Taungya’, clearly acknowledge the origins of this knowledge and only apply it with the free, prior and informed consent of its original custodians

Implications for the International Arrangement on Forests

Recognizing that the IAF is not ready to embark on a process of negotiating a legally binding instrument on forests, since the UNFF has yet to adopt the holistic vision of forests held by indigenous peoples in which indigenous peoples’ collective rights to their lands and territories and knowledge are integral;

Moreover, concerned that the IAF/UNFF has yet to accept the necessity of defending forests, indigenous peoples and local communities against the pressures of international free trade agreements;

Any future international arrangement on forests (post-UNFF 5) should:

37.  Only be embarked on with the full and effective participation and consent of indigenous peoples, and only if the provisions of the proposed arrangement are respectful towards and consistent with the rights of IPs

38.  Have a specific standing agenda item addressing Indigenous Peoples’ Forest Issues.  Additionally, Indigenous Peoples’ Forest Issues should be addressed as cross-cutting issues throughout the various processes.  The program of work of any future arrangement should take into account the relevance of indigenous perspectives to all aspects of work. 

39.  At the national level, governments should address Indigenous Peoples’ issues within their National Forest Programs and National Biodiversity Action Plans, and Parks and Protected areas strategies, and strengthen Indigenous Peoples’ participation in national planning implementation and reporting.  Additionally, consultation should be done with respect to appropriate Indigenous Peoples’ structures, with mechanisms for documentation and disclosure.

40.  Regarding the CBD and UNFF and Strengthening National Reporting: 

a) UNFF secretariat should redraft guidelines for national reporting to ensure it embraces a broader set of issues relevant to Indigenous issues and TFRK.

b) The CBD, UNFF and their Member States should strengthen national reports by including, in an equitable way, the perspectives of Indigenous Peoples, and by providing equitable funding and resources for Indigenous Peoples to submit parallel reports to complement and enrich national reporting process to the CBD.

c) National Reports to the CBD and UNFF should identify who (in terms of Indigenous Peoples) has been consulted through what IP structures/ organizations and Indigenous Peoples’ communities should be aware of the process and structures to allow them to participate and contribute.

41.   The CBD, and any future international arrangement on forests, must increase and accelerate work on mainstreaming Indigenous Peoples’ issues, as cross-cutting issues, across all of the thematic and other areas of the CBD.

42.  UNPFII should provide greater coordination and guidance and make recommendations to the UNFF, governing bodies of the CPF member organizations, including the CBD, in their work relevant to Indigenous Peoples.

43.  The UNPFII should create a task force on Traditional Knowledge bringing together all the UN agencies working on Traditional Knowledge to ensure a broad and effective holistic approach to the protection of Traditional Knowledge and related natural resources.

44.  The UNPFII, now that it exists with a mandate relevant to the UNFF, should become a member of the CPF.

45.  International Arrangement on Forests/CBD should institute/establish a Northern Regional process on forest issues, with a particular focus on TFRK in the Northern and Boreal regions.  In creating this process, the Arctic Council should be seen as an example of good practice on high-level cooperation between governments and indigenous peoples.

46.  National Criteria and Indicators frameworks for SFM must include a specific criterion on Indigenous Peoples Forest Issues, which will, as a focus, measure the extent to which Indigenous rights are respected and TFRK is considered in Forest Management, in the view of Indigenous Peoples.  Any future international arrangement on forests, in addressing C & I, must embed indigenous issues in this process.  Current Criteria and Indicators need to be redeveloped to include indigenous perspectives.

47.  The UNFF/CBD should direct increased attention to global warming in their work, and activities relating to TFRK, since global warming is an increasing source of destruction of TFRK, particularly concerning the Arctic region, the Amazon basin and small island developing states.

48.  Any International Arrangement on Forests (IAF) must conform to existing international law related to Indigenous rights, such as that on FPIC, which is an established principle in working methodologies of the UN, such as those taking place through the CBD, UNDP, etc.  Additionally, rather than seeing existing discussions as sufficient, any future international arrangement on forests should aspire to advance Indigenous Peoples’ rights such as that of self-determination.

49.  Any IAF should adopt the best practices of other UN bodies (such as CBD in its work on Art. 8(j) / WGIP / UNPFII) concerning the full and effective participation of Indigenous Peoples. Any IAF should adopt such mechanisms of participation.

50.  The UNFF, and any subsequent international arrangement on forests, should recognize Indigenous Peoples as distinct peoples and grant them increased and differentiated participation consistent with emerging trends in the UN system.

51.   The UNPFII should work with the WTO Secretariat and Member States to open up the WTO to Indigenous Peoples’ participation and to raise their awareness of the impact of trade arrangements on Indigenous Peoples and their rights.

52.  Governments, any future IAF, and CBD, should support national and/or international policies which restore full access and rights to resources and traditional territories necessary for Indigenous Peoples to exercise traditional land use activities, such as hunting, fishing, gathering, herding, and ceremonial activities required to maintain and rejuvenate TFRK and support the livelihoods of Indigenous Peoples.  Additionally, in consultation with the relevant Indigenous Peoples, governments should halt current projects that are contributing to the degradation of traditional lands until it has been established what rights Indigenous Peoples have to the land.  Also, a process should be established to determine these rights and interests.

53.  Countries, donor agencies, the IAF, CBD and other members of the CPF, should support efforts at the national, regional, and local level to utilize both TFRK and scientific forest related knowledge in the development of forest policies, forest, research, forest assessments, sustainable forest management practices and monitoring activities, with the full and effect participation of indigenous peoples.

54.  Any future IAF should focus on monitoring, assessment and reporting on implementation of IPF/IFF PFAs.  In addition, third party assessments, peer reviews, and independent evaluations of these processes should be emphasized.

55.  National governments, donor agencies, and voluntary fund mechanisms should provide adequate funding to support Indigenous Peoples’ initiatives to develop their capacity to manage forests and take part in national and international initiatives.

56.  IAF and CBD should encourage member states to develop new institutional arrangements, such as an Indigenous Peoples’ forest tenure, consistent with the community forest movement, which would additionally address indigenous peoples’ rights, and incorporate their unique forest values and interests.

57.  Establish, with the full participation of indigenous peoples, benchmarks and indicators for measuring the implementation of national guidelines and regulations regarding TFRK

58.  The UNFCCC and its Kyoto Protocol should not regard plantation forests as carbon sinks in CDM projects.

59.  The UN Special Rapporteur on the rights and fundamental freedoms of IP should elaborate a report specifically on the current status of TFRK.

60.  The UN High Commissioner for Refugees should create a special program to address the needs of IP displaced by the exploitation of their lands and territories.

61.   The UNESCO Draft Convention on Cultural Diversity must be negotiated between member states and representatives of IP to ensure that it provides adequate protection of their cultural heritage.

62.  There should be full discussion and open participation by representatives of IP in WIPO’s work related to genetic resources, traditional knowledge, and traditional expressions of culture.

63.  The Secretariats of the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, UNFF, CBD as well as UNIFEM and other UN agencies should compile best practices related to Indigenous women’s traditional knowledge of forest management.

Indigenous Peoples

Recognizing that self-determination implies both rights and responsibilities, IP should:

64.  Together with NGOs and funding agencies, ensure that information about relevant international processes reach IP communities in appropriate language and form, and to also ensure that members of such communities are able to attend the relevant international meetings.

65.  Together with NGOs and funding agencies, ensure that preparatory meetings are held in IP territories and areas prior to IP participation at international meetings concerning their rights.

66.  Transmit the millennial knowledge of their ancestors to future generations in which process indigenous women, community elders and spiritual guides play a fundamental role.

67.  Undertake activities that would provide civic education to indigenous peoples and communities, on issues regarding TFRK.

68.  Raise their governments’ awareness of Indigenous Peoples’ skills and capacities with regard to TFRK and sustainable forest management

69.  Initiate deliberate action to reform customary practices that prevent the full participation of women in natural resource management

70. Advocate for TFRK to become a part of school curricula in indigenous communities

71.  Strengthen advocacy measures to reform national laws and policies to bring them into conformity with obligations under international law, and to take effective administrative and other measures to implement those laws

72.  Strengthen the participation of indigenous children and youth in international and national processes on forests

73.  Northern Indigenous Peoples’ Organizations should initiate the creation of a focal point from Northern IPOs that would parallel the focal point of Indigenous Peoples’ Organizations representing Southern countries.  This self-selected focal point should be welcomed by the Secretariat of the UNFF.

Donor Agencies

Recognizing the important role of international cooperation and partnerships to achieve needed reforms and to ensure proper and adequate capacity building, donor governments and agencies should:

74.  Support exchange programmes between different indigenous communities, both locally, nationally, regionally and globally, in order to share experiences and knowledge on the promotion and protection of TFRK

75.  Provide resources for the capacity building of indigenous peoples to undertake lobbying and advocacy activities

76.  Provide resources to undertake lobbying and advocacy activities at the local, national and international levels

77. Mainstream consideration of TFRK related issues in all projects and programmes affecting indigenous peoples

78.  Provide sufficient resources to support projects and programmes which are planned, executed and managed by IP for their self-development.

79.  No international financial institution should promote or enter into projects related to natural resources, forests, land, water, agriculture, mining etc. that are not accepted by the relevant Indigenous Peoples

80.  International agencies that finance or otherwise support or promote forest-related policies, projects or programmes (including the World Bank, Regional Development Banks, GEF, FAO etc.) must ensure that such activities are acceptable to affected indigenous peoples or other holders of traditional knowledge, as expressed through their representative institutions and organizations, prior to any policy adoption or any approval of a particular project or programme.

81.   Recommend to Northern Governments, Donor Organizations, and Voluntary Fund mechanisms, to ensure that funding is also made available to enable the participation of Northern countries’ Indigenous Peoples in relevant international and national meetings.  Additionally, once funded, Indigenous Peoples should be free to participate as they see fit, through government delegations or in their own capacity.

Adopted by consensus, Corobici Hotel, San Jose, Costa Rica, 10 December 2004.